He greatly served the
royal crown of Spain in
the discovery and conquest of the Indies
with
the Admiral Don Christopher Columbus
of
glorious memory who discovered them,
and
afterwards by himself, with his own
ships,
at his own expense.
He died, etc.
He begs from charity a paternoster
and an AveMaria.

Surely he deserves them, if ever an honourable gentleman
did.

CHAPTER VII

THE HERITAGE OF HATRED

Although the journey from Jamaica to Espanola had
been accomplished in four days by Mendez in his canoe,
the caravels conveying the party rescued from Puerto
Santa Gloria were seven weary weeks on this short
voyage; a strong north-west wind combining with the
west-going current to make their progress to the north-west
impossible for weeks at a time. It was not until
the 13th of August 1503 that they anchored in the harbour
of San Domingo, and Columbus once more set foot, after
an absence of more than two years, on the territory
from the governorship of which he had been deposed.

He was well enough received by Ovando, who came down
in state to meet him, lodged him in his own house,
and saw that he was treated with the distinction suitable
to his high station. The Spanish colony, moreover,
seemed to have made something of a hero of Columbus
during his long absence, and they received him with
enthusiasm. But his satisfaction in being in
San Domingo ended with that. He was constantly
made to feel that it was Ovando and not he who was
the ruler there;—­and Ovando emphasised
the difference between them by numerous acts of highhanded
authority, some of them of a kind calculated to be
extremely mortifying to the Admiral. Among these
things he insisted upon releasing Porras, whom Columbus
had confined in chains; and he talked of punishing
those faithful followers of Columbus who had taken
part in the battle between Bartholomew and the rebels,
because in this fight some of the followers of Porras
had been killed. Acts like these produced weary
bickerings and arguments between Ovando and Columbus,
unprofitable to them, unprofitable to us. The
Admiral seems now to have relapsed into a condition
in which he cared only for two things, his honours
and his emoluments. Over every authoritative
act of Ovando’s there was a weary squabble between
him and the Admiral, Ovando claiming his right of
jurisdiction over the whole territory of the New World,
including Jamaica, and Columbus insisting that by
his commission and letters of authority he had been
placed in sole charge of the members of his own expedition.